THE Communist Party of China, personally founded and nurtured by 1he great leader Chairman Mao., has lived through 48 glorious fighting years. Without the Chinese Communist Party armed with Mao Tsetung Thought, there would be no New China. For nearly half a century, our Party, guided by Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line, has led the Chinese people in advancing wave upon wave and fighting heroically in the protracted struggles to seize political power and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat by armed force. Twenty years ago, we won the great victory of the new-democratic revolution and founded the People's Republic of China. Since then, we have won a series of great victories in the socialist revolution and socialist construction, turning the poor and backward old China into a socialist state which has attained initial prosperity. With the development in depth of the socialist revolution, our Party has led the masses in their hundreds of millions in carrying out the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which has won great victories. Mao Tsetung Thought is the new development of Marxism-Leninism in our era. All the achievements of our Party are the result of Chairman Mao's wise leadership; they are victories for Mao Tsetung Thought and Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line. Holding high the great red banner of Mao Tsetung Thought, the epoch-making Ninth National Congress of the Party comprehensively and systematically summed up the experience of revolutionary struggles of our Party over the past 48 years, particularly the historical experience of the struggle between the two lines within the Party since the beginning of the period of the socialist revolution, and set forth the great fighting task of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. The extremely important speeches made by Chairman Mao at the Ninth Party Congress, and the political report of Vice-Chairman Lin and the Constitution of the Communist Party of China which were unanimously adopted by the congress, have inspired the revolutionary fighting will of the whole Party, the whole army and the people of the whole country and illuminated the road for our continued advance. Chairman Mao's theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat is the fundamental guiding thinking in our efforts to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and promote all our work, to strengthen the great unity of the whole Party and the revolutionary people throughout the country, and to "unite to win still greater victories." It is also the fundamental guiding thinking for further building the revolutionary Party of the proletariat. In the past 48 years, the proletarian revolutionary line represented by Chairman Mao has waged resolute struggles against the Right and "Left" opportunist lines represented by the three renegade cliques of Chen Tu-hsiu, Wang Ming and Liu Shao-chi. During the period of the new-democratic revolution, Chairman Mao insisted that the Chinese revolution must be led by the proletariat, that it was necessary to form a strong worker-peasant alliance, build rural base areas and seize political power throughout the country by armed struggle, and that it was necessary to advance without stop and make the transition from the new-democratic revolution to the socialist revolution. Since the beginning of the period of the socialist revolution, Chairman Mao has insisted on carrying out the socialist revolution on the political and ideological fronts simultaneously with the socialist revolution on the economic front, he has firmly upheld the dictatorship of the proletariat and insisted on the prevention of a capitalist restoration, and he has set forth the theory, line, principles and policies for continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, thus victoriously smashing the counter-revolutionary revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and shattering his bourgeois headquarters. Historical experience has testified to this truth: Marching forward along Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, cur revolution will be crowned with victory and our Party will develop and grow in strength; departing from Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, our revolution will suffer setbacks and our Party will sustain losses. The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party armed with Mao Tsetung Thought is the fundamental guarantee for the victory of our cause. Without the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party no revolution can succeed. It is under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party headed by Chairman Mao that we have won great victories in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The great, glorious and correct Communist Party of China is the vanguard and the highest form of organization of the working class. The working class exercises its leadership through the Communist Party.

The Central Committee of the Party with Chairman Mao as its leader and Vice-Chairman Lin as its deputy leader, which was elected by the Party's Ninth National Congress, is the sole centre of leadership for the whole Party, the whole army and the people of the whole country. The whole Party must observe unified discipline and be subordinate to the Central Committee. The organs of state power of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the People's Liberation Army, and the Communist Youth League and other revolutionary mass organizations, such as those of the workers, the poor and lower-middle peasants and the Red Guards, must all accept the leadership of the Party, closely follow Chairman Mao's great strategic plan and carry out to the letter the line, principles and policies of the Party's Central Committee personally formulated by the great leader Chairman Mao. On this question, it is necessary to guard against sabotage by the class enemy and continue to criticize the reactionary theory of "many centres," that is, the theory of "no centre." And all individuals and organizations must pay attention to the point that they should on no account put themselves in a wrong position in relation to the Party. At the First Plenary Session of the Party's Ninth Central Committee, Chairman Mao taught us: In the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, some tasks have not yet been fulfilled and they should now be carried on, for instance, the (asks of struggle-criticism-transformation. We must act in accordance with this instruction of Chairman Mao's and continue to sum up experience, carry out the policies, further consolidate and develop the revolutionary great alliance on the basis of different fields of work and different units, further consolidate and develop the revolutionary three-in-one combination, carry on revolutionary mass criticism in a deep-going way and continue to do well the work of purifying the class ranks. In units where the purification of the class ranks is by and large completed, it is necessary to take firm hold of the work of consolidating and building the Party and other tasks of struggle-criticism-transformation. Chairman Mao teaches us: "The Party organization should he composed of the advanced elements of the proletariat; it should be a vigorous vanguard organization capable of leading the proletariat and the revolutionary masses in the fight against the class enemy." This is a summing-up of our Party's experience in Party building over the past decades and a great programme for consolidating and building our Party. The consolidation and building of the Party means first of all to consolidate and build the Party ideologically. We must use Chairman Mao's proletarian thinking on Party building to thoroughly criticize Liu Shao-chi's revisionist line on Party building, his sinister book Self-Cultivation, and his "six sinister theories," namely, the theory of "the dying out of class struggle," the theory of "docile tools," the theory that "the masses are backward," the theory of "joining the Party in order to climb up," the theory of "inner-Party peace" and the theory of "merging private and public interests," and further eliminate their pernicious influence. We should arm our Party with the great thought of Marxism-Leninism which Chairman Mao has creatively developed and build our Party into a still greater, still more glorious and still more correct Party. We have won great victories. Our dictatorship of the proletariat is consolidated. Under the leadership of the great leader Chairman Mao, the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people and the People's Liberation Army have the mighty strength to smash all the counter-revolutionary plots of imperialism, revisionism and reaction. But on no account should we slacken our vigilance. We must fully recognize the protracted and difficult nature of the socialist revolution. The struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines is by no means over. Throughout the historical period of socialism, there is the danger of capitalist restoration and there is the threat of subversion and aggression by imperialism and modern revisionism. We must be vigilant against sabotage by the handful of counter-revolutionaries and their attempts to reverse the correct decisions passed on them. It runs counter to reality and is very harmful to think that "since we have seized power, the task is accomplished" and it is "time for a rest." All Communist Party members and revolutionary cadres must continue to study and apply Mao Tsetung Thought in a living way, study hard Chairman Mao's great theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and study his On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party and On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People. They must have faith in the masses and rely on them and give full play to the Party's good style of work fostered by Chairman Mao, namely, integrating theory with practice, forging close links with the masses and practising self-criticism. They must display the thoroughgoing revolutionary spirit of "fearing neither hardship nor death," maintain the system of cadre participation in socialist productive labour, and continue to make revolution and march forward. Both veteran and new Party members should strive to remould themselves and temper themselves into vanguard fighters in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. To those who do not work for the great unity of the working class and the revolutionary people but are infatuated with sectarianism and the mountain-stronghold mentality, to those who style themselves heroes, refuse to make progress, seek a comfortable life and fight for high positions, to those who are infected with anarchism and ultra-democracy but are unwilling to correct their mistakes, and to those who play double-dealing tactics, indulge in petty and mean actions and refuse to study and apply Mao Tsetung Thought conscientiously and diligently, we would like to put this question: Comrades, are you going to continue to make revolution or do you think that you have reached the end of the revolution? If you want to continue the revolution, you must respond to Chairman Mao's great call to "fight self, criticize revisionism," carry on revolutionary mass criticism, criticize revisionism, the bourgeoisie and the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of all exploiting classes, strike down all bourgeois ideas of "self," strengthen the proletarian Party spirit, overcome bourgeois factionalism, serve the people wholeheartedly, and fight courageously for the revolution, the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the complete emancipation of the proletariat and all mankind. In consolidating and building the Party, it is most important to make a good job of consolidating and building the leading bodies. In the revolutionary committee at every level, according to its own specific conditions, a strong core of Party leadership must be gradually formed, which is armed with Mao Tsetung Thought, exercises unified leadership and maintains close ties with the masses. Only thus is it possible to do well in consolidating and building the Party in accordance with Chairman Mao's line on Party building and go on to fulfil all the other tasks of struggle-criticism-transformation in a still better way. Chairman Mao's directive on "getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh" reflects the law of necessity governing the development of the political party of the proletariat. To consolidate the Party means, first of all, to consolidate it ideologically. The organizational consolidation of the Party must be carried out, and it must be carried out prudently. Proven renegades, enemy agents, absolutely unrepentant persons in power taking the capitalist road, degenerates and alien-class elements must be cleared out of the Party and not be re-admitted. With regard to those who have made mistakes, or even serious mistakes, we should, in line with Chairman Mao's consistent teachings, act on the principle "learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, cure the sickness to save the patient," and give them more deep and painstaking ideological education. At the same time, we must work conscientiously to ensure that the truly advanced elements of the proletariat who have been tested in the great storms of revolution are admitted into the Party, so as to add fresh blood to the Party. A positive and serious attitude should be adopted in this work. Speaking of the consolidation of the Party, Chairman Mao gave us this instruction: "Every Party branch must reconsolidate itself in the midst of the masses. This must be done with the participation of the masses and not merely a few Party members; it is necessary to have the masses outside the Party attend the meetings and give comments." We must follow this latest instruction of Chairman Mao's, have complete faith in the masses and carry out open-door Party consolidation. Party members and the masses must be thoroughly acquainted with Chairman Mao's thinking on Party building. Party members should modestly listen to the opinions of the masses while the masses should help the Party members warm-heartedly so that through Party consolidation, the close ties between the Party and the masses will be further strengthened. The work of Party consolidation must be carried out in every single Party branch in a meticulous way and not in a crude and careless way. Work on the consolidation of the Communist Youth League should also begin. The Communist Party of China, which has been tempered in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, is arming itself further and strengthening its unity with Chairman Mao's theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Party, together with the genuine Marxist-Leninists and the revolutionary people throughout the world, is contributing all its efforts with even more vigorous revolutionary militancy to the great cause of communism and to the complete burial of U.S. imperialism, Soviet revisionism and their running dogs. The Party's Ninth National Congress solemnly declared: The Chinese Communist Party, nurtured by Chairman Mao, always upholds proletarian internationalism. We will fight alongside the revolutionary people the world over, until "the abolition of the system of exploitation of man by man over the whole globe, upon which all mankind will be emancipated." Let us rally closely around the Party's Central Committee with Chairman Mao as its leader and Vice-Chairman Lin as its deputy leader, grasp revolution and promote production and other work and preparedness against war, and carry the revolutionary cause of the proletariat through to the end! Unite to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and win still greater victories! Long live the great, glorious and correct Communist Party of China! Long live great Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought! Long live our great leader Chairman Mao! A long, long life to him!